Reliance Industries 43rd AGM Highlights | 7 Point Analysis

Google Invests Rs.33,737 Cr in Jio Platforms

Introduction

In this article, we have done 7 point analysis of Reliance Industries 43rd AGM Highlights and the key announcements by Mr.Mukesh Ambani regarding the future plans of RIL. Reliance Industries held its 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) through a video webcast on 15^th July 2020.

Reliance Industries 43rd AGM Highlights | 7 Point Analysis

Lets take a look at the takeaways of this 43^rd AGM of Reliance Industries. Starting with the biggest highlight of this AGM.

1. Google Investment in Jio Platforms

• Search engine giant Google invests in India’s telecom sector mammoth, Jio Platforms for 7.73% stake valued at INR 33, 737 crore.
• This will not be just financial investment but also a strategic investment, which means Google will take part in many business arrangements with Jio, similar to the Jio – Facebook deal.
• Overall two big tech giants – Google and Facebook are collaborating  with Jio which will be value accretive in long term to increase their reach in India.
• This move will accelerate the digitization in India.

2. Total Stake Sale in Jio Platforms

• After Google’s Investment, total divestment in Jio platform comes to 32.94% through  a slew of investments worth INR 1.52 Lakh crore by various Silicon valley players like Facebook, Google, Qualcomm, etc, in a total time span of ~3.5- 4 months ,which is quite phenomenal.
• Reliance’s Aramco deal could not get through according to the original timelines due to clearance issues, unforeseen circumstances in energy market due to crude oil prices and overall COVID-19 situation.
• However, the money raised through Jio platforms has helped Reliance Industries in being net debt free by the first quarter of this financial year.

3. Total downloads in ‘JioMeet’ crossing 50 lakh in 2 months

• Jio launched India’s first cloud based video conferencing app – JioMeet.
• And it has seen encouraging response over 2 months (50 lakh downloads), which is a positive sign.

4. Launched Jio Glass

• Reliance Industries launched Jio Glass – a new reality headset, which will enable holographic video calling based on cutting edge technology.
• It is a very light weight tool (75 grams) which will bring together teacher and students in 3D virtual classrooms, offers holographic meeting experience and overall an immersive experience.
• The pricing is not yet disclosed, but it is expected that it will be priced quite competitively adhering the pricing strategy of Reliance Industries as we witnessed in Jio.

5. Launched Jio TV+

• Reliance announced the launch of Jio TV+.
• Jio TV+ is a content aggregator from 12 OTT platforms like Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, SonyLIV, etc in one app, similar to the Amazon fire stick. It will be voice-search enabled
• It will be voice search enabled platform.

6. Reliance Industries receives strong interest from strategic and financial investors across the globe to invest in Reliance Retail

• It is very much likely that in coming months, we might see a slew of investments in Reliance Retail from global retail giants. It would be similar to that in Jio Platforms.
• Strategic investors will be mainly the retail MNC players wanting to be a part of Reliance’s Retail story. It will in a way help them to increase their reach. Some financial investors might be the ones who have already invested in Reliance Jio.
• As we have seen in Reliance Retail valuation article, the valuation of Reliance retail is ~ 7 lakh crore, higher than that of Jio (~5 lakh crore). This  indicates that investors will show similar euphoria for Reliance Retail as well.
• Jio Mart – Mainly built on two powerful platforms – WhatsApp (omni channel tech platform) and wide reach of Reliance retail. It will integrate consumer brands , local traders and merchants with consumers.

7. Reliance Jio has developed ‘Made-in-India 5G Platform’

• Mukesh Ambani said in AGM that Reliance has developed a complete 5G solution for India from scratch. As mainly according to him – Data is wealth and India’s wealth should remain in India.
• Once the platform has achieved scale, Jio will start offering 5G infrastructure services to its competitors in Telecom sector.
• If 5G is successfully rolled out by Reliance in India, Jio will be undoubtedly a  market leader in Indian telecom sector.

This summaries our 7 point analysis of 43^rd AGM held by Reliance Industries.